Passion Ignites (28 page)

“
Four more Dark have shown up at the northwest side,”
Anson said.

Cain growled low in his throat. “
Another two on the east.
”

“
Six more on the west
,” Roman stated in an irritated voice.

Dmitri saw Arian flying faster. He and Kellan each had mates. Knowing Arian's woman, Grace, she was in the manor writing. But Denae was another matter entirely.

It wasn't just those two women either. There were eight other mates on the grounds. It was the duty of every King on Dreagan to protect them as fiercely as they protected Dreagan and their secret.

Dmitri shifted slightly to give himself a direct path to fly over the border near the distillery. He flapped his wings to climb, using the fast moving clouds to keep him hidden.

His first pass brought him around quickly again. Dmitri tilted his wings so that he hovered over the driveway leading from the main road onto Dreagan. He saw nothing that would cause alarm there. Yet, the idea of Dark beginning to arrive on Dreagan didn't bode well for anyone.

Dmitri soared above the long, winding driveway leading to the distillery and shop. To his surprise, there were many cars still in the parking lot when it should have been deserted. It was the last day the distillery was open to the public until spring.

“
We have a problem,
” Kellan's voice rang out through their link. “
There are Dark Fae in the shop.
”

Dmitri fisted his hands, his talons itching to slice some Dark Fae in half. “
How many mates are in the shop
?”

“
Three. Jane, Shara, and Cassie.
”

“
I'm heading to the manor,”
Arian said.

Dmitri circled around the distillery. He could see Kellan's bronze tail disappear into the clouds below.

“
Keep them there, Arian. The Dark doona get into the manor no matter what,”
Kellan ordered. “
Anson, doona get far from Con's mountain. If you see a Dark, kill him. If you see anyone—mortal or no'—near the mountain, kill them.”

“Gladly,
” Anson replied.

*   *   *

Lexi laughed in Gorul's face, though inside she was frozen with fear. Not for herself, but for Thorn and everyone on Dreagan. If she had only kept her mouth shut, but she hadn't and she needed to think fast.

“Mate? What are you going on about?” she asked, derision in every syllable.

Gorul ran a finger along her cheek. He laughed when she jerked her head away from him. “Who else but a mate to a Dragon King would know such things about us?”

“Fine,” Lexi said with a bored expression. She might have failed theatre in school, but she was about to put on the performance of a lifetime. “I'll tell you what you want to know.”

Gorul got so close their noses were touching. “Then get to talking.”

“I've known it was you who killed Christina. I saw all the others with red eyes and began following them around the city. I figured one would lead me to you eventually.”

Gorul's expression darkened. “Humans really are pathetically stupid.”

“So stupid that I had a map showing your movements and where you liked to congregate?”

“That's when a Dragon King found you,” he guessed.

“After what I saw you do to my friend, do you really think I would trust a man?” Lexi made a sound at the back of her throat. “What I did learn was that I wasn't the only one following your kind. There were two other men. I saw them easily kill your people.”

“The Kings,” Gorul said between clenched teeth.

Lexi held her blanket tighter. “I don't know who they were, but I learned a lot from them. That's how I discovered you were Dark Fae. I went to a pub where they were and eavesdropped on their conversation. It's how I know of the war and everything else.”

“A likely story.” Gorul gripped her face and turned it to the side. He licked her neck up to her jaw. “It doesn't explain how you're here now, does it?”

She was repulsed by his touch. Lexi tried to pull away from him, but he held her tighter. In his red eyes she saw the confidence that stole whatever courage she had.

“Let her talk,” came a deep voice behind Gorul.

Gorul's face went slack. He dropped his hand and spun around, going to his knee. “My king.”

Lexi's day kept going from bad to worse. The king of the Dark now stood in front of her. His black and silver hair hung midway down his back, and he was missing his left arm from above the elbow. He wore solid black from head to toe.

Next to the king was a tall Fae who looked as if he couldn't care less to be there. His black hair hung well past the middle of his back, and it was liberally streaked with silver. He also wore all black, but the inside collar of his silk button-down was dark silver.

There were a few other Dark Fae with them, but Lexi knew those two were the ones with the most power.

She was in deep shit now.

The king waved Gorul away, his focus locked on Lexi. Why did all the Fae have to be so damned gorgeous? She might not be begging them for sex, but she couldn't deny the effect the king and the man with him had on her. If she let herself, she could give in.

Then she thought of Thorn and was able to look the king in the eye.

He smiled slowly. “Some of my people love when humans are meek and weak. For me, I crave the spirited ones. Like you, my dear.”

Lexi refused to move when he touched her. She would show him nothing. The more defiant she was with him, the more he would want her. And that was one place Lexi didn't want to find herself.

“You were telling a very curious story.” His Irish accent was defined, but not guttural. “I'm curious to hear how you came to be here.”

“I ran,” she said. “I saw more and more of your kind flooding the streets, and I knew I had to get out of the city.”

“With no car?” asked the Dark with the king.

The king smiled. “That's Balladyn, my dear. He's my right hand, my enforcer. He's very adept at picking through lies.”

“Then he'll have a hard time with me because I'm not lying.”

Balladyn crowded her left side. Lexi kept her gaze on the king, pretending that she didn't want to shove past both of them and run screaming from the room.

“You ran from the city and just happened to find your way here?” Balladyn asked in a voice so soft and cold that Lexi couldn't hold back a shiver.

She slid her gaze to him. “If you didn't hear it in my accent, I'm not from here. No, I didn't take a car from the city. They were piled up all through the streets. I left on foot. I stayed off the roads in an attempt to keep away from you.” She swallowed, keeping an image of Thorn fighting the Dark as if he had been born to it in her mind.

If he could be strong against dozens attacking him, then she would be strong against the ones she faced now. Because any other choice would be a catastrophe.

Thorn.

Just saying his name gave her strength. Lexi returned her gaze to the king. “I've been on the move since last night. I got caught in the weather. I was completely lost when a man found me and brought me here.”

Balladyn's red eyes narrowed. He leaned close and inhaled deeply.

Was it her imagination or had he just flinched, surprise flickering in his eyes?

“Then?” the king asked.

Lexi gripped the blanket tighter in an effort not to scoot away from the both of them. “I heard screams. I walked out and saw that maniac,” she said with a jerk of her chin to Gorul, “and his friends killing people. But I didn't get away in time. They saw me and brought me in here.”

The king took her hand that was clasped on the outside of the blanket and ran his thumb across her fingers. “Your hands are cold.”

“I was caught in the rain. It's freaking cold here.”

The king smiled. “You're naked beneath.”

“Not entirely.” She did still have on her bra and panties.

“I'm Taraeth, king of these maniacs,” he said with a smile and cold, cold red eyes. He leaned his head to the side and motioned to the group of people. “Do you see those over there?”

Lexi nodded.

“Those humans are crying because of the slaughter my men wrought. Yet, they haven't run. Look at them, my dear.”

“No.”

Taraeth grabbed her chin and forced her face around to look at the group. She glanced at the ones moaning, their hands running over their bodies as they waited for the Dark to take them.

Lexi's gaze clashed with brown ones from earlier. The other two women she had spotted who weren't acting like the others were near her. All three were half hidden by the mass of people trying to get to the Dark. How long would they remain that way?

“That's how you should be acting toward us,” Taraeth whispered in her ear. “You should have dropped that blanket and begged me to take you. Why haven't you?”

How had she not seen the anger in his eyes? Lexi's hand began to shake in his hold. She slowly turned her head to look at him. “I don't know.”

Taraeth kept ahold of her hand and took a step back. “I've seen this once before. It was a mate of a Dragon King who was immune to us. She didn't want me to touch her, but I still made her climax. With Kellan watching as I did.”

The fear she had felt from falling and the Dark tracking her were nothing compared to standing before Taraeth and listening to what he obviously had planned for her.

“Who is your Dragon King?” Taraeth asked.

Lexi shook her head. She was so scared that it took her two tries to say, “I d-don't know what you're talking about.”

“Lying is going to make things so much worse, my dear,” he said with a smile and death in his eyes. “I can bring you unimaginable pleasure while I'm slowly killing you. Or I can bring you pain. It matters not to me. Make it easy on yourself and give me a name. I want to know which of the arrogant Kings I'll have the enjoyment of hurting by killing you.”

Lexi glanced at Balladyn to find him watching her intently. Before she could say anything, she doubled over. It wasn't from pain. It was from desire so intense and strong that she couldn't breathe.

Her sex pulsed, throbbing with need. The wool blanket scraped across her breasts as she tried to turn away. Her nipples hardened against her bra from the contact.

Lexi held back the moan as long as she could before she fell to her knees. Taraeth kept ahold of her hand, his thumb still stroking her.

“That need I just forced on you comes from being near us,” Taraeth said. He laughed. “How long do you think you can go on like that before you try to give yourself relief?”

That thought had already crossed Lexi's mind. She glared up at him. “What a coward you are to violate me in such a way when there are hundreds of others who want you.”

“Ah,” Taraeth whispered as he sent more need pumping through her. “But that's what makes you so appealing. Soon, you'll be begging me to give you release. You'll forget everything and everyone but me.”

He dropped her hand and turned away. Lexi wrapped her arms around her middle and groaned again. The desire was overwhelming. She pictured Thorn in her head and kept him there.

“Bring her, Balladyn,” Taraeth said as he started to turn away. He paused and looked at the group of humans. “Another surprise. Bring the traitor, Shara, as well.” Taraeth stopped beside Gorul and said, “Kill the rest.”

A moan left Lexi when Balladyn lifted her in his arms. She was supposed to have been safe on Dreagan. What happened?

“Fighting it will only make it worse, woman,” Balladyn murmured.

Fighting? She had no choice, because Lexi wasn't going to die like Christina had.

Thorn!

 

CHAPTER

THIRTY-SIX

Thorn removed his clothes and stood on top of the warehouse surveying all his enhanced eyesight could see—and it wasn't a pretty picture.

The once beautiful ancient city had taken a battering from the Dark. After the building Lexi had been in was destroyed, the Dark moved to other areas of the city and began to ravage it.

The rain was coming faster, hitting his skin like pellets. Wind whipped around him, as if urging him to shift and take to the sky. He glanced about for humans. How many times had they taken precautions so that the mortals wouldn't see them?

How many times had they not been able to shift because the humans were too close?

Now, not one of the mortals was paying attention. Con was already flying over the city. Thorn could see a hint of gold scales through the clouds.

Thorn could finally focus on the task at hand like he had before he saw Lexi the first time. It was a relief that she was completely out of danger at Dreagan. Finally, she was well and truly safe.

He jumped and shifted at the same time. His wings unfurled and caught the wind. It took him straight up to the clouds.

“
Ready?
” Con asked.

Thorn circled the warehouse to make sure no one had seen him. “
Been ready.
”

The two of them stayed in the clouds until they found a group of Dark. He and Con came at them from opposite sides. Thorn went first, blasting them with magic and pushing the Dark right toward Con.

Thorn dipped his wing to turn and flew off when Con came in and released dragon fire on the Fae. When they were done, no Dark was left alive.

With their victory, they moved on to the next section. It proved more difficult since there were numerous humans mixed in with the Dark.

Thorn tucked his wings and dove straight down from the clouds. Since he was unable to spread his wings fully between the buildings, he managed to spread them enough to halt his descent and even him out. He grabbed a Dark in each hand, crushing them.

Con dove down behind him, catching three Dark in his mouth and using his teeth to tear them to shreds before tossing them away.